Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Remarks Concerning Ben Concerning the Savages..

Benjamin Franklin:
You take a very interesting perspective in your "Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America". In your first sentence "Savages we call them, because their manners differ from ours, which we think the perfection of civility; they think the same of theirs", is the perfect analysis if your "remarks". The white colonists and the Native Americans clearly had completely different cultural standards and values. The sense I get from your passage is a deeper understanding and appreciation for the values of the Natives than I have ever witnessed studying early America before. You appreciate their values concerning politeness, hospitality, justice, etc... What is more important, education of the world, history and science, or learning the ways of land? I am merely proposing to you that maybe they are of equal importance. If the two parties were to combine knowledge and culture, our country could have so much diversity today, and be an ultimate balance of economy and appreciation for our earth. I feel like you understand this, to some extent..